Neither
of the big winners had come forward early Wednesday. The other winning
ticket was sold at a newsstand at a high-rise office complex in an
upscale section of Atlanta, raising the possibility that that ticket was
from an office pool.

In California, the seller of a winning
ticket gets a bonus equal to one-half of 1 percent of the payout, up to
$1 million, said Alex Traverso, a spokesman for the state lottery. It's a
different story in Georgia, where there is no bonus for retailers, said
Tandi Reddick, a Georgia lottery spokeswoman.

The owner of the Atlanta newsstand was Young Soolee, who grinned as she showed up for work Wednesday morning.

"I'm so excited and so happy now," she told The Associated Press. "I love my store and the customer now."

By
rule, in both California and Georgia, the winners will be identified
publicly once they claim their prize. Some states allow lottery winners
to remain anonymous.

Whoever nailed the numbers beat odds of about
259 million to 1. The jackpot was the second-largest in American
history, trailing only a $656 million draw last year, and could have
approached $1 billion if no one had won.

In Nipton, Calif., so
many people lined up to buy a ticket that the line stretched into the
next state over, Nevada - because it's one of seven states that don't
offer Mega Millions.

The $636 million, before taxes, is on the
table only if a winner or winners are willing to spread the payments out
over 30 years. If it's taken all at once, it's worth $341 million, or
about $170 million split two ways.

The Mega Millions jackpot
started growing Oct. 4. There were 22 drawings without winners before
Tuesday night, Paula Otto, the game's executive director, told the AP.

Otto
said that $336 million in tickets were sold for the Tuesday drawing,
beating lottery officials' expectation of $319 million.

"It was a fun run," she said. "It was our first holiday run for either of the big jackpot games."